Big East January '26 Thread | Page 9 | The Boneyard
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Big East January '26 Thread

navery12 said:
It's really funny watching the Big East bashers switch their argument from the Big East sucks and is going to be a 2 bid league, to why should I care about getting 5 teams in if they're all going to lose
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So many games to play for these teams on the fringe. Yes, we are likely 2-5 bids, with what would likely be 2 7-9 bids and 2 10-11 bids.
 
RuffRuff said:
So many games to play for these teams on the fringe. Yes, we are likely 2-5 bids, with what would likely be 2 7-9 bids and 2 10-11 bids.
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I agree, I'm just not really sure what the complaint is. For what everyone agrees is a down year for the Big East that seems like a pretty good outcome. I just don't see the doom like others
 
navery12 said:
I agree, I'm just not really sure what the complaint is. For what everyone agrees is a down year for the Big East that seems like a pretty good outcome. I just don't see the doom like others
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Well, I think most of us that want to hold onto hope for the BE, it's less about how many bids we get and more about how many real contenders do we have. A few years ago, we had at least a couple teams that made the league interesting and had the chops to get into the top ten, make a run to an Elite 8.

Our one potential has dropped so far there's now chatter that they may not even make the tourney. I don't know how out of bounds it is - they have one decent win against Baylor. The PC loss was damaging.

 
RuffRuff said:
Well, I think most of us that want to hold onto hope for the BE, it's less about how many bids we get and more about how many real contenders do we have. A few years ago, we had at least a couple teams that made the league interesting and had the chops to get into the top ten, make a run to an Elite 8.
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Sure, and this year it's UConn and maybe Villanova. I wouldn't be shocked if St John's is playing the second weekend too if they can figure things out, which is a big if.

But that's this year and what I'm saying is I have no idea why you've decided a down year this year means the Big East as we know it is over. Which you have said multiple times this year. There's no reason to believe this year alone is a trend and ignore the past 5+ years
 
navery12 said:
Sure, and this year it's UConn and maybe Villanova. I wouldn't be shocked if St John's is playing the second weekend too if they can figure things out, which is a big if.

But that's this year and what I'm saying is I have no idea why you've decided a down year this year means the Big East as we know it is over. Which you have said multiple times this year. There's no reason to believe this year alone is a trend and ignore the past 5+ years
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You have to admit, the talent level and overall tourney success is trending in the wrong direction. We lost a lot of longstanding old talent last year, haven't really restocked based on what I see. We have almost no NBA talent in the league outside of UConn.
 
RuffRuff said:
You have to admit, the talent level and overall tourney success is trending in the wrong direction. We lost a lot of longstanding old talent last year, haven't really restocked based on what I see. We have almost no NBA talent in the league outside of UConn.
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It's not a trend when you're basing it off of 1 year, so no I do not have to admit that and do not remotely agree
 
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nelsonmuntz said:
One of the weird developments of the last year or two is it seems like more games get completely out of control than has happened in the past. A team gets down 15-20 in the second half, and it seems to just give up on the game. Maybe it is the result of paying the players, where getting a player hurt on the wrong side of a blowout will get a coach fired and cost the player real money, but there are definitely more games getting completely out of control.
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Maybe. Personally I think it’s more about the algorithms that are believed to be important for tournament resumes and certain coaches are running up scores to improve resumes. My second thought is coaches are trying to instill the killer mindset in their players and it works for some teams. My third thought is developing a reputation creates fear in opponents which ends up fulfilling outcomes. But your point has some validity. Certainly that 99 Duke team ran up the point differential during the season. Backfired on Duke when it ran into an equally talented group that focused on development over domination during the season.
 
RuffRuff said:
So many games to play for these teams on the fringe. Yes, we are likely 2-5 bids, with what would likely be 2 7-9 bids and 2 10-11 bids.
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I don't see any way the Big East only gets 2 bids and I don't see 5 bids. It looks like we'll get 3 or 4 bids but I no longer understand the selection committee after they so royally screwed the Big East in 2023-2024. That for sure should've been 5 or 6 bids and we somehow only got 3.

Providence was 21-14 and 10-10 in the Big East. They beat #6 Marquette, #8 Creighton, #19 Creighton, Wisconsin, and Georgia.

St. John's was 20-13 and 11-9 in the Big East. They had less good wins than Providence but they were on a heater and gave UConn a dogfight in the conference tournament, by far UConn's toughest opponent of the last month of the season.

Seton Hall was 25-12 and 13-7 in the Big East. They beat #5 UConn, #7 Marquette, and #23 Providence. Seton Hall was taken out back and thrown in the river by the committee and went on to win the NIT.

The Big East was really very good that season and all those teams passed the eye test. It almost felt they were penalized for having by far the best team in the country (UConn) in their conference. The lack of bids that season seems to have created this idea with some that the Big East is on a major downward trajectory for several seasons now.

The reality is the Big East should've gotten 5, maybe 6 bids that season and they got 5 bids last season. This is for sure a down year with UConn being contenders to win it all and nobody else contending but we should still get a minimum of 3 bids.
 
RuffRuff said:
Well, I think most of us that want to hold onto hope for the BE, it's less about how many bids we get and more about how many real contenders do we have. A few years ago, we had at least a couple teams that made the league interesting and had the chops to get into the top ten, make a run to an Elite 8.

Our one potential has dropped so far there's now chatter that they may not even make the tourney. I don't know how out of bounds it is - they have one decent win against Baylor. The PC loss was damaging.

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Once again you're leaving out UConn when you talk about the Big East conference and contenders. I wonder if any Duke fans do this when they talk about the strength or lack of strength of the ACC.
 
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RuffRuff said:
You have to admit, the talent level and overall tourney success is trending in the wrong direction. We lost a lot of longstanding old talent last year, haven't really restocked based on what I see. We have almost no NBA talent in the league outside of UConn.
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You continue to speak out of both sides of your mouth. It's all about the amazing freshmen this year for you in many posts but then your other posts are about the transfer portal is where it's at now in this new form of college basketball (superteams) and how the Big East will get left behind when the reality is the Big East does very well in the portal rankings and has money to spend.
 
superjohn said:
You continue to speak out of both sides of your mouth. It's all about the amazing freshmen this year for you in many posts but then your other posts are about the transfer portal is where it's at now in this new form of college basketball (superteams) and how the Big East will get left behind when the reality is the Big East does very well in the portal rankings and has money to spend.
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It's obviously a combo of both - how many NBA player profiles do you see in the BE this year? Upcoming draft picks? And of course I include UConn in the BE, but in the context of evaluating the league, it's how are the other teams doing. I know UConn will handle it's end of the deal. You can argue the BE lost more good talent to the portal than they brought in (Conwell, Swain).
 
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RuffRuff said:
It's obviously a combo of both - how many NBA player profiles do you see in the BE this year? Upcoming draft picks? And of course I include UConn in the BE, but in the context of evaluating the league, it's how are the other teams doing. I know UConn will handle it's end of the deal. You can argue the BE lost more good talent to the portal than they brought in (Conwell, Swain).
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I don't know how many current Big East players will play in the NBA. I think the team we play on Wednesday night has a few guys who will play in the NBA and despite their bad head coach we better be ready for them because that team has a lot of individual talent. Everyone keeps saying the league is down this season and you keep saying it's a trend, I don't consider one season a trend.

Here's a list of Big East players currently in the NBA...

 
Lunardi 1/6 update:

UConn (1)
Villanova (6)
St. Johns (9)
Seton Hall (9)

Butler (2nd team out)
Creighton (7th team out)
 
Villanova trending up. Would love to see them ranked in the teens and with a top 5 seed come March.

What's their ceiling? And yes I know their ceiling entails a W vs UConn
 
Tyler2Rings said:
Villanova trending up. Would love to see them ranked in the teens and with a top 5 seed come March.

What's their ceiling? And yes I know their ceiling entails a W vs UConn
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They're not an athletic team and they're not deep but their starting 5 is really good and they play the right way. They actually remind me of a less athletic/less talented version of some of Jay Wright's really good teams.

Tournament team for sure, IMO. I think their ceiling is in the 20-25 range of top 25.
 
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Butler-St. John’s on now. Butler up 4 with a few to play before half. I know Butler is solid, but the Johnnies just don’t look great right now
 
BlueWolf25 said:
Butler-St. John’s on now. Butler up 4 with a few to play before half. I know Butler is solid, but the Johnnies just don’t look great right now
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It was a drag for the first 15 minutes but really fun to end the half. Feels like both teams need this one
 
BlueWolf25 said:
Butler-St. John’s on now. Butler up 4 with a few to play before half. I know Butler is solid, but the Johnnies just don’t look great right now
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It is just one half and it is a road game for St. Johns, but you can see the talent difference and yet it is a tie game at the half.

If Ejiofor was on Butler, they would be 13-2 right now and ranked in the Top 15. The surrounding cast and style SJU plays actually make him worse.
 
BlueWolf25 said:
Butler-St. John’s on now. Butler up 4 with a few to play before half. I know Butler is solid, but the Johnnies just don’t look great right now
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Pitino made a terrible calculation thinking he could turn one of these guys into a point guard but their other major problem is Sanon and Ian Jackson suck. The whole team is a waste of money besides Zuby.
 
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If St. Johns focuses on defense, they are going to win. They are so much more athletic than Butler.

Edit: Ajayi picked up 4th foul. There is no excuse for St. Johns not winning by 10+.
 
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